Wallabies Finally Come To Cardiff

This is the one, the one that the Autumn series has built up to. In fact by pure fluke of fixtures there won't be another game this weekend, it feels like the final of something. It is the game that Welsh rugby has been building up to since the start of November. South Africa was a chance to test the team against the best, Argentina and Tonga were heavy warm ups for this game. It is the game that can put this squad on a different level to Welsh squads over the past few years, it would be a step up. To take the Southern Hemisphere scalp would be a sign of things to come from this young Welsh side.

Man of the Match: The Welsh Fan

If you are reading this and because you missed Friday nights game because of work or other commitments, you are one of the luckier ones. In five hundred words I will save you eighty minutes of your life. I'm sure like me everyone else had been getting more excited as the day went on to come home and watch Wales run in a comfortable win over the Tongans. No disrespect to the Tongans, they are a solid outfit and they put in the hits to prove it, but after a strong performance against Argentina, Wales should have dismantled them. With eleven rested it was a chance for others to step up, and they did all put a shift in. It was one of those games where players put in a shift rather than a performance.

Hallam Amos Starts As Wales Ring Changes

Tonga are the weakest of the sides that Wales will play this autumn and have been given the Friday night fixture. It is a strange game for the players and one that a lot of players would rather avoid. Tonga will be very physical but should be a fairly straightforward task. So many of the big names have been rested and they are probably grateful for the rest, not least so that they can avoid injury before the main game of Wales' autumn, Australia. So we can probably guess the line-up that Gatland will be going with from the Tonga selection. He has made no less than eleven changes to the starting XV which was so dominant against Argentina, with only George North, Leigh Halfpenny, Justin Tipuric and Rhodri Jones still in the team. Of course there were some issues at centre so change has been enforced there but on the whole the Welsh set up is looking fresh, and Gatland is adding fresh faces all the time.

O’Connor Yet to Sparkle for Irish

After his high profile move to London Irish, the twenty three year old James O’Connor has done very little. Making his debut against Northampton Saints on the 3^rd of November, he has yet to play since then. Brian Smith has chosen to leave him out since then, missing two LV Cup matches, one against Newcastle Falcons and another game against Northampton. For me this is an odd decision, O’Connor is a world class player and only on a short term deal. If you have a player on a short term deal then surely he gets utilised him as much as possible in that short period, especially a player of O’Connor’s quality. He is a unique case in the fact that he isn’t playing in the autumn internationals because of his high profile fall out with the Wallaby management.

Wales Roar into Life

Wales have found their groove, found their rhythm and more importantly found their wingers. After I berated 'Gatland-ball' last week and said that this type of rugby was getting dull, Wales have come out with one of the best performances in a long time. It was adventurous, pacey and entertaining, everything that you could want from attacking rugby. The Pumas were dismantled fairly simply with a final score of 40-6, although if anything this flattered Wales. In the same way Wales were unlucky to lose to South Africa last week in the way that they did, Argentina did play a lot of good rugby which they were perhaps not rewarded for but that was due to strong Welsh defence. The fact that Argentina played some great rugby and got beaten so badly is important for the Welsh team. It was because the Welsh defence was brilliant as it is normally, but also they were very clinical, something we normally expect from Southern hemisphere sides. Less possession, less territory, but thirty-four more points. Simply brutal when the Pumas made any errors.

Crunch Time as Puma's Arrive

All told, last weeks Welsh performance wasn't bad, a lot of positives just the wrong side of the scoreline. Coming so close and not winning often hurts more than being convincingly beaten, but not many Autumns have hurt the Welsh squad as much as last year. So much was expected as always, but four defeats in four test matches told the story of last November. Wales started that bad Autumn last year against the Puma's, losing 26-12, and questions were bound to be asked of the squad. It put the squad through a dire patch which they would only come out of with George North's lucky try in the corner against France the following Spring. That taught Wales how to win games again, that was also the game where North's Dad came on the field to celebrate, in was a weight off everyone's shoulders.

Wales Fail to Step Up

The European Champions once again failed to make the vital next step and take a Southern Hemisphere scalp. It was a spirited performance by Wales. Although the scoreline says nine points was the difference, tries scored were three-nil in favour  of the Boks, but these figures don't tell the full story. Wales had more possession, more territory, made more clean breaks, I could go on. Even watching the game there was a feeling that Wales were in control and if you didn't know what the score was then you would have been forgiven for thinking that Wales were leading. It was in fact the South Africans who were more in control, even when they were being attacked they knew they could break and score tries if they soaked up pressure for long enough. The defensive structure they employed worked perfectly, a structure which has long been used by the All Blacks, not committing men to the ruck unless they could definitely win it. There was a constant green wall of fourteen men, in front of eleven or even ten Welsh attackers. There simply was no space, and eventually they forced Wales into mistakes. Knock-ons, turnovers and basic errors were all to common from Wales but it came from this defensive style designed specifically to stop the Welsh strike runners going forward. It is a risky tactic because you are actively allowing the opposition to run at you, but when it is carried out as well as it was yesterday then there is only one way to break it down, creativity.

Time To Hear The Dragon Roar

Double European Champions, the majority share of a successful Lions squad, and fourth place at the 2011 World Cup was where this Welsh squad all started their journey in the national jersey. It hasn't been a bad two years if you are a Welsh rugby fan, in fact it has been one of the greatest periods ever recorded. However, there is one sticking point which will be a question asked of this side over and over, until they finally answer it on the field. That is; Why can't they beat the Southern hemisphere teams? They have beaten everybody in Europe twice in two years, barring one dreadful display against Ireland. The performance against England on the other hand was one that any Southern Hemisphere side would be proud of, clinical, efficient and championship winning. Wales can perform like the best against European opposition but can't take that onto the field against the best and really challenge them. It has become psychological, almost a 'we can't beat them' attitude has existed in the past. Probably the best example of this were the four 2012 games against Australia losing four matches by a grand total of just fourteen points. Some of these were lost in the dying minutes of the game, a young squad just unable to close a game out against the best.

Kurtley Beale crushes Welsh hopes last year

But this is a Welsh side on the up, this side oozes confidence and has the class to back it up, but at the same time they are grounded. The camp is very settled and they know that they are building towards the 2015 World Cup, which is effectively a home World Cup for the Welsh as well as the English. Sam Warburton has already confronted the psychological issue of not being able to beat the Southern hemisphere sides in his pre-match interviews. His response has been what we have come to expect from this Welsh team, short, direct, straight forward, "We expect to win on Saturday". This is part of the building process to the World Cup, to be a serious contender, which I would say Wales could be, but only if they can start winning these games against the Southern Hemisphere sides.

Winning is what Sam Warburton expects from this side

Australia Need An Overhaul

After another defeat this Australian squad is suffering a real lack of confidence. They have only beaten Argentina twice and the Lions in one test in the last ten games. Not the record of a strong Wallaby outfit. They are going through a period of transition with Ewan McKenzie taking up the reins after the longest managerial spell they have ever had, under Robbie Deans. However, two wins from seven is not good enough start for Ewan McKenzie who came in after the Lions series, with the quality that the Australians possess.

World's Best Derby Days

The first Welsh Premier League Derby was held this weekend with Cardiff taking the bragging rights, if you were anywhere near Wales this weekend you would think it was the only game on over the weekend. It was a huge affair in South Wales, and was built up all week as 'a tale of two cities', showing the differences between the two industrial cities of Cardiff and Swansea. Some people this week have even said that the Welsh derby is the best in the world, a difficult argument to win, because everyone believes that their teams derby is the best. So I'm going to have a look around world football and find this best derbies. This means the best football, the best atmosphere, stadium, everything that would make you want to go to that game as a neutral.